Best wishes message from David K Williams and everyone at Fishbowl for a Joyous Holiday Season.

We have always believed that the quotes we select, embrace, and try to emulate reveal a great deal about a person and a company.

We recently went back through our Forbes articles in order to share with you our Christmas gift. Our gift is the top 25 quotes from our articles for you to enjoy. These help us to know who we are, what we stand for, and why. Our hope is that these may help you to do the same. “People do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of character,” wrote poet Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Here are our top 25. As you read these, please share what your favorite ones are from this list or share any other quote that inspires you to try a little bit harder to be a little bit better each day.

“When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.” —Ernest Hemingway.

“The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.” —Ralph Nichols

“You can’t talk your way out of that which you behaved yourself into, you must behave your way out.” —my version of Stephen Covey’s famous quote “You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved your way into!”

“Individuals play the game, but teams beat the odds.” —SEAL Team saying

“When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” —Benjamin Franklin

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw oﬀ the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” —Mark Twain

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” —Leonardo da Vinci

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” —John Quincy Adams

“To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our minds strong and clear.” —Gautama Buddha

“I thought of that while riding my bike.” —Albert Einstein in answer to the question of how he came up with the theory of relativity

Martha Beck stated that, “Every time a catalytic event forces you to let go of your identity, you have the chance to go on a vision quest.”

“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.” —Muhammad Ali

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

“The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” —Socrates

“The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.” —Roger Bannister, the first recorded man to break the four-minute mile

“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon—instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.” —Dale Carnegie

“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.” —Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African American female astronaut

“Conquer yourself; not to the point of perfection, but to the point of compassion.” —Jeff Sherman

“The greatest fear in the world is of the opinions of others. And the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.” —Osho

“When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.” - Wayne Dyer

“It’s impossible to build an organization and summon its institutional will if you don’t really like people. You may get lucky and win a championship, but you’ll end up leaving a landfill, not a legacy.” —Timothy R. Scott

“Vulnerability is the absolute heartbeat of innovation and creativity. There can be zero innovation without vulnerability.” —Brene Brown, author and researcher

“To be learned, add something each day. To be enlightened drop something each day.” —Lao Tzu

“Treat a man as he is, and he will remain as he is; treat a man as he can and should be, and he will become as he can and should be.” —Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

…and a Bonus Quote!

Our number one all-time favorite comes from Teddy Roosevelt. To survive as an entrepreneur, you have to be built tough:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” —Theodore Roosevelt

We look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes to all and may this holiday season be joyful and fulfilling.